When a 39-year-old mother from Florida wanted to go out for a few days, she left her little boy home alone. She told the boy to take care of himself, which he might have been able to do. However, the mother, 39-year-old Autumn Lee Beede, failed to give the little child access to running water, electricity, or food while she was out having the time of her life on an undisclosed binge of some sort.
The child survived the grueling ordeal by begging for food and water handouts from neighbors. Finally, a concerned Good Samaritan called the police and asked them to perform a welfare check on the Florida property. The sheriff’s deputies arrived at the property and were horrified to find the little boy living without adult supervision in the abandoned property, which was maintained in deplorable conditions. They arrested the 39-year-old mother shortly afterward.
Beede has been charged with child neglect. She was finally booked for the crime two weeks after the sheriff’s deputies found the boy living in the deplorable conditions without any supervision. The neglectful mother was arrested but posted her $5,000 bond and was released pending her trial. She will have to return to the courtroom at the Escambia County location when it is time for her to face the music.
The arrest report does not list the boy’s age or his relation to Beede. However, it is assumed that he was a small child and the son of the neglectful woman. The boy was abandoned in the deplorable conditions of the Florida home from February 5 to February 14. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, the first thing they noticed was a smell floating into their nostrils. There was allegedly a “heavy odor of fecal matter” inside the home.
The child told police officers that he was living with a man at the residences. However, that man was sent to jail on February 5, so the boy was living alone after that. Because the home did not have electricity or running water, the boy had to rely on the kindness of neighbors to help him survive.
The boy told police that Beede left pastries for him on the porch on the morning of Valentine’s Day. However, she had refused to go into the property to check on him, opting to just leave the food on the porch like he was a lost dog.
The victim told police that he had not seen Beede in person since December 23, 2019.
One witness told police that she spoke to Beede about the child and the deplorable living conditions. Beede allegedly told the witness to mind her own business and to stop prying into her affairs.
A week following the welfare check, a male friend of Beede’s shared an image of her and the boy standing outside of a movie theater. Apparently, she was trying to make things right. However, it is not confirmed whether this child was the one living in an abandoned home.
What do you think about this horrible situation? Should she be locked up?